It's usually a good idea to try out new things, especially when it comes to music, but these six bands probably should have stuck with the producers who brought out their best sound.
1. Pixies
Before Steve Albini worked with Nirvana and PJ Harvey and became alternative rock's most sought after producer, he recorded the Pixies debut album Surfer Rosa in 1988. The album's lo-fi yet strangely brutal sound suited the Pixies' surreal music perfectly, but for the band's next album Doolittle, it decided to work with producer Gil Norton instead, who gave the music a slicker hi-fi sound. Doolittle may be the Pixies best album, but its best sounding album is definitely Surfer Rosa.
2. The Black Keys
In our review of the Black Keys' new album Turn Blue last week, one criticism I had of the album was its overwhelming production, courtesy frequent collaborator Danger Mouse. The Black Keys have still written some awesome songs for their albums with Danger Mouse, but the band's earlier self-produced albums contain the true essence of the band: simple, gritty, and soulful. The more recent Black Keys albums are too fussy to capture this essence effectively.
3. The Beatles
Nearly all of the Beatles' studio albums were recorded with George Martin, who helped the band expand its sound and create new recording techniques. The one album in the Beatles discography that wasn't recorded with Martin also happens to be one of the least loved: Let It Be. The band worked with the legendary Phil Spector for the album, but instead of any technical innovations, the album swings between bland and overproduced. The Beatles regrouped with Martin for Abbey Road, with McCartney asking him to make an album "the way we used to do it."
4. Talking Heads
The three best albums Talking Heads ever made were More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain in Light, all of which were recorded with former Roxy Music member Brian Eno. Whereas many albums of the new wave era sound either flat or overwhelmingly "80's," Eno gave a remarkable depth and sense of space to Talking Heads, without resorting to clichés of the era. The band's subsequent albums without Eno sound much more like products of their time.
5. The Stooges
I've written before about the less-than-stellar quality of David Bowie's production on the Stooges' third album Raw Power, and it's even less impressive when placed side-by-side with the band's second album Fun House. The recording of Fun House was an attempt to capture the Stooges' live energy, with producer Don Gallucci having the band to set up and perform the way it does in concert, even allowing Iggy Pop to use a hand-held microphone. The resulting album legitimately sounds like a band performing live, unlike Raw Power, which sounds like a band tracking its instruments in a studio.
6. R.E.M.
R.E.M.'s Murmur sounds unlike any other rock album in history. Though it has hints of '80s reverb and spaciousness, producers Don Dixon and Mitch Easter gave it a remarkably organic and punchy sound that sounds like nothing else, not even subsequent R.E.M. albums. Though Dixon and Easter would record R.E.M.'s also-excellent Reckoning in 1984, the band never worked with them again, ultimately swapping out its engaging murkiness for a brighter, more conventional sound with producer Scott Litt.
